Look for Roenick in the lineup against Chicago, Marleau staying home for birth of second child

Earlier practice than usual with Sharks taking an 11 a.m. flight to Chicago. A little more news than usual, too.

Captain Patrick Marleau won’t be in the lineup Wednesday night as he is staying back in San Jose to be with wife Christina for the birth of their second child.

But you should see Jeremy Roenick out there against the Blackhawks. Coach Todd McLellan hedged slightly — “JR will be a game time decision, but he’s looking like he’s ready to go.” — but Roenick spent practice on a third line with Travis Moen and Ryan Vesce, and also got some time in on the power play.

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Roenick hasn’t played since Feb. 28 when he suffered his second shoulder injury of the season. He sounded as if he were definitely ready to get back out there.

McLellan said the Sharks would benefit by Roenick’s return in a few ways.

“JR has an energy to him. He’s going to be excited about playing. He has the ability to help on the power play,” the coach said. “He’s got some offensive instincts – a righthanded shot and obviously with some of our rightwingers not available, that’s important.

“We don’t need JR to come in and be a savior,” he added. “We just need him to come in and be JR.”

McLellan said Marleau would rejoin the team in Nashville for Thursday night’s game.

As for Marleau’s reason for missing the game, the coach was very supportive, saying family moments like that “come before anything. That would be first in my house and in all the players’ houses, that should be first.”

******Defenseman Rob Blake did not practice Monday and will not be on the trip. McLellan said he’s expected to be ready to skate with the team when it returns at the end of the week and he’ll have a better idea then how soon Blake will be able to play. He suffered a lower body muscle injury against Dallas on Thursday night.

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.